Overview
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: In which Shane considers his relationship with his brother-in-law and how, really it's just best left as it is. - One-shot.


It wasn't even that Paul and Steph were into one another that pissed Shane off.

It was how they dealt being into one another that did. Thoroughly.

When they were sneaking around, it was bad. When they came clean to Vince, but still didn't tell him the full story, it was worse. When they broke up for that short amount of time, because Vince forbade them from seeing one another, give the circumstances, they'd still done some shitty things, but it was a bit better.

Until, you know, they started seeing one another again, got caught, and everything blew to hell.

So no. Shane didn't have an irrational reason of distrusting Paul. At all.

Because it's one thing to sleep with guy's sister. It's another to, seemingly, do it only to gain money and power in a company. Downright another to do all that after getting all chummy with the woman's father and brother and seeming like a really cool guy.

Still, it was a totally different thing to make a guy's sister the other woman.

Completely.

Like, how the hell was Shane ever really supposed to _not_ expect Paul to cheat on his sister? When he was cheating with another one to be with his sister? Or not think that he was using her? That he wouldn't fuck around on her, reap the benefits of sleeping with (and eventually marrying) her, all while only really losing a damn good girlfriend and the respect of a locker room?

Honestly, if Shane was an asshole, he might have done the same thing.

But he wasn't. An asshole, that was. Like Paul.

Stephanie couldn't see it that way either. At any point. That pissed Shane off a lot too. His sister acted as if the entire story was some sort of twisted fantasy or something. One of her damn romance novels.

And it wasn't. Maybe it was because Shane was actually married and very committed to his wife, or maybe he just had some actual damn morals which, given his family, he could see where Steph lost hers, but still, cheating was just wrong.

It just was.

And to actually know the person whose man you were sneaking around with was…

Ugh. Shane wanted to knock Steph in the head some times, like when they were kids, and tell her to wake the fuck up. That was someone else's life. Someone that they knew and, even if they didn't, had feelings too. It wasn't all some big game.

Not that Steph didn't feel guilty. Shane could see that too, at times. But, as always, the pleasure she got outweighed any remorse over the whole thing and, in a matter of months, Steph seemed content with wiping the whole thing under the rug and pretending as if she and Paul were divine.

Vince did too. Swept it under the rug. Given his business, he knew that dirty deeds just went along with it.

Plus, cheaters understood cheaters.

Or so Shane assumed.

It helped too that Steph shoved in their faces just how in love she was with Paul. It made all their damn lines during the show cringe worthy, to Shane, and it had since he'd first heard about them fooling around. Once they were officially a couple though, things became downright sickening.

And as if it wasn't hell to have to watch her sister suck face weekly on camera with a guy that Shane was losing a steady amount of respect for, things were even worse when Stephanie would bring Paul to their family things.

Which, admittedly, they didn't have a lot of. They were all very busy. But when Vince was having a gathering at his house or something, there was no way that Stephanie wasn't dragging her favorite adulterer to the party.

Marissa would scold him, whenever he grumbled about this.

"You're sister's happy," his wife would say with a frown. "And you can't hold something like that against someone forever, can you? It's over, it's done, just move on."

Which he could have, had his sister not been doing her dirt with one of the wrestlers of the company that he was being groomed to take over one day. He might have given his baby sister some disappointed stares or shakes of the head, had it been anyone else. Any other man on the face of the earth. Even threatened the guy, that if he ever did to his sister what he did to the woman he'd cheated on to be with Steph, he'd beat the shit outta him for it.

But mixing business with pleasure…

Ugh.

Involuntary shivers were mandatory, just from the thought.

Around Stephanie though, Shane tried his hardest to act like it was all cool. Like he wasn't bothered by the entire thing. That it was just something that happened and they were all over it (which everyone else in his family seemed to be). She was his baby sister; he wouldn't stay mad at her over anything ever and it would just be silly to pretend to be.

Now Paul? Paul he was rather openly peeved at.

The two, honestly, were never that close to begin with. WWF was a large company, some people you didn't know on a personal level. Part of the trade. But Shane respected him. A hell of a lot. Mostly because Vince did.

"I see big things for you," the man would say a lot to Paul and pat him rather roughly on the shoulder because he liked Paul, Vince did. He liked him a lot.

Enough to even get over him fucking his daughter, apparently.

Shane though? Not so much.

He never...fought the guy or anything like that. He wasn't a moron. And he never had a true argument with the man. It was just palpable, between them, when the two were forced to interact.

Outside of the show, of course, because they were the utmost professional in the ring. That was one thing that the two had in common; WWF was their life.

The difference was, Shane had it in his blood.

Paul just so happened to be sleeping with some of that blood..

Which he grumbled something of the like, once, to the man, when they happened to be alone backstage and glaring at one another just wasn't enough.

Perhaps it wasn't even one another. Paul held very little ill-will against Shane, if not none at all. What had the man ever done to him?

Rather, he could tell that the man had a problem with him and, when a few months didn't alleviate it, had no problem with returning the distaste. Paul knew his sins, carried them well; Shane, however, had no business trying to sentence him over them.

Because it was fucking irritating. Yes, Paul screwed up. Big time. In a major time. Cheated. There. He was a cheater. A big one. Fine. Whatever.

But that wasn't between him and any of the damn guys in the locker room. And it definitely wasn't between him and the boss's damn son.

Still, that day, backstage, Paul and the man happened to be standing around in the same general area. Paul was waiting for Steph to finish up whatever the hell she was doing, after the show, and Shane was waiting on Vince. It was almost serendipitous (or perhaps the exact opposite) that they'd find themselves doing this in the same general area.

Paul was already a bit standoffish (unrelated, just some in-ring shit), and was not in the mood for the sideways glance the man gave him. And when he glared right back at Shane, arms crossed tightly over his chest, the other man found himself grumbling something he probably shouldn't have.

Neither could remember exactly what it was, as it was mumbled, but it had something to do with Steph and Paul's relationship which, months out, the wrestler was damn sure tired of hearing about.

So Paul spoke back to Shane, which he shouldn't have done, because the man sort of was his future boss, maybe, and also the brother of the woman that he wasn't so sure he was in love with just yet, but was certainly completely enthralled with.

Needless to say, Shane was the last person to pick a fight with.

Which they didn't have, for the record, as Shane only bucked up, just a bit, glaring at the man, right in the eyes (the little punk wasn't pussy, Paul would give him that), all from Paul telling him, quite simply, to repeat his damn self if he was a man.

And oh, Shane was a man.

So he did repeat it, whatever it was, louder that time. And Paul sneered, which was annoying, and once more, Shane accused him in no uncertain terms that he was only using his sister and that if he thought that she was the key to the company he was a dumb ass.

"Even if I was," Paul retorted with a heavy glare, "sleeping with your damn sister to get your company or power or whatever the shit it is that you're all pissed over, the hell do you have an argument about?"

"Excuse me?" What he said threw Shane off. "What do you mean? I-"

"Fucking Steph, putting up with all her constant shit," Paul shook his head, just a bit, as they spoke in rather tense hisses at one another. "That's work. Suckling from Daddy's tit as he hands the company right over to you? Now that's just pure lazy."

"You-"

"You were born into it. I would at least be fighting my way into it." Paul didn't look off either, as he stared Shane just as heavily into the eyes. "But I ain't. Fuck your business. I'm with your sister because I want to be with your sister. You can keep being a big brat over it or you can man the hell up and-"

"Why," Shane cut him off, "are you with Steph then? Huh? Just to sleep around on her too?"

And Paul's nostrils flared as his arms fell, jaw clenched because, damn, that was the root of it all. And what could he even say? The best insults, after all, were the ones that rang true.

"So save your little speech you gave Vince and anyone else about why you're really doing this," the other man went on and people were passing them, just a few, but no one stepped into what, regardless of the calm tones, was clearly a tense conversation. "You're right. Fuck the company. But if you even think about cheating on my sister like you did-"

"You don't," Paul told him, tone still even, but rather taut, "threaten me. Because you will not like what happens next. I'm gonna do whatever the hell I want to Steph and anyone else. You don't know our relationship so don't presume to."

There was so much more that Shane should have said, would have said, had Steph not been coming around a corner then and Paul, ever the expert at faking, put on a big smile, shoving his shoulder into Shane's as he walked passed him and over to the woman.

It went without saying, of course, that that in no way helped the situation. Or any situation.

At all.

Now, Shane was in no way a vindictive person, but when Paul's quad tore in May of '01, it'd be a lie to say that he (and he was certain a few others) didn't see this as pure karma. He'd fucked over another fellow wrestler and (in their minds) was attempting to do the same to them all. Now his body had returned the favor.

Not that anyone relished in this. Paul's career, at that time, looked extremely over. No wiggle room. No one had ever come back from a quad tear in the wrestling world (or at least no one Shane knew), so he kind of just wrote the man off.

And it was a blow to the company too, as Triple H was, of course, a major player at the time. The biggest of major players, actually. Not only would that bring a swift end to his joint reign with Steph, but also leave him to miss the big Invasion arc, of which he would have no doubt played a huge role.

Even if his time in the WWF wasn't over, he'd certainly missed the biggest push he'd have ever received.

It was a really shitty situation. A reminder of how everything could go right, literally everything, you could make no mistake at all, and it could still cost you everything. Not the most sobering thing that had happened in recent years in the company (and not even the near future), but certainly landed up there.

The one silver lining, however, in the entire thing, was that it would bring a complete end to what Steph had going on with the man. Both Vince and Shane were certain on this. Clearly, the main draw to one another had been that, well, they were written to be together. They were spending so much time together, even outside of the shows, practicing lines and such, that they'd somehow just...well...screwed everything up by becoming attracted to one another.

Now though, their biggest attraction had vanished, leaving her to travel around and him stuck for months in a hotel room with little interaction with anyone else. Both of which, obviously, led to temptations and poor relationship etiquette. Steph would be all lonely and girly and her typical over dramatic self and (though Shane didn't want to think about it, because, sick) probably wind up with some other guy. While Paul, all alone, in that hotel room, recovering and sulking and down on himself, would no doubt find _some_ way to drown his sorrows. And for a man that didn't find drinking fun, there was only one way to go about it.

Equally as sick, but hey.

Shane knew, deep down, that his sister did care for the man and would hate however the breakup played out, would feel bad for her, but would be glad to put the whole thing to rest finally. Paul probably wouldn't be coming back to WWF (or wrestling again period) and Steph would break up with the man.

A fitting ending to something that began as a wrestling storyline, honestly.

Until, you know, that didn't happen.

For a relationship that was bred out of lack of morals, Steph and Paul seemed to have gained some somewhere along the way. Stephanie spent every damn chance she got in that hotel room, dealing with the man, while he called her so frequently that Shane didn't know when he'd find the time to have other women. They'd stay up for hours, Stephanie had told Marissa more than once (which by proxy meant that Shane knew about it too), talking about everything that had gone on since they last spoke.

"Which," Steph would giggle as Marissa would giggle and damn, women sucked, "is usually, like, only twenty-four hours ago. If that."

She did everything for the man. Saw him damn near weekly, bought him whatever he needed, hell, Steph washed his clothes, Shane was nearly certain.

And then there was all that emotional support garb that made Shane wish that his wife and sister hated one another, so that they wouldn't talk and therefore he'd never hear about all Steph was doing for Paul.

"Because I love him," she told Shane one day when he, point blank, asked her why she was traveling back to the east coast when she'd have to be back on the west in three days, for the next show.

"Stephanie-"

"I do. And I don't care if you don't get it or think that it's not true or that it's not real or whatever it is that bothers you about all of this. I've never cared about anyone the way that I care about Paul. Call me stupid. It doesn't change that."

Shane would never call his sister stupid.

But he came damn close sometimes.

It wasn't like Shane could only focus on that though. Oh, no, he had a lot of going on. A lot. WWF was a full time company that was very actively being sued about its name and in immediate need of a new one. Add that onto all the other lawsuits they were constantly being hounded over as well as the typical day-to-day shit that only could happen in the profession such as theirs, and, well, Shane's hatred of his baby sister's relationship was a bit of a back burner issue.

Paul's progress, however, was a rather upfront one. To his father, at least.

And Steph, yeah, of course, but hell, if the man pooped that day she'd compliment him.

Vince though, now it was hard to weasel one out of him. Shane could attest to that.

But Paul got the highest of acclaims from Vince who, truthfully, didn't care what the man was doing to his daughter anymore. Not in the slightest. Watching him work his way back from a damn torn quad was invigorating to Vince. The true sign of strength, dedication, and worth ethic.

Hell, Paul probably could have knocked Steph up as well as ten other women before he came back and Vince would have overlooked it, he was that enamored with the man.

Shane was in no way jealous of Paul, but… Damn. Just damn.

He was only getting ever closer to Stephanie too. By that point, Shane had kind of thrown in the towel of the relationship ending any time soon and focused on his own life. Just let Steph do what he wanted, no judgment.

Were they going to stand the test of time? Of course not, Shane knew that, deep inside, but praying for their demise at the moment was not beneficial to him in any way.

Plus...he kind of just got used to them.

Not that he liked Paul. Or fully trusted him. He still definitely felt that one day, the man would do something to hurt his sister, but what could be done? They were making a relationship work that was imploding in their fictional universe and doing a damn fine job at it.

What the hell was Shane supposed to do? Stew about it for the rest of forever?

Vince, honestly, took the brunt of Shane's annoyance with his family during that time period. It was becoming increasingly clear that his father had no plans of going anywhere any time soon. Which, honestly, would have been fine, had he at least been somewhat receptive to some of Shane's ideas.

But he wasn't. Vince was into one person; Vince. He thought of himself of a, well, god. God of Wrestling. It only helped when he saw the downfall of his immediate competitors. And gods don't abdicate; they're immortal. There was no democracy. Why the hell should there be?

While Shane and his father drifted, Steph and Paul must have been closing ground on...whatever their ultimate goal was with one another (Shane honestly didn't care anymore), as their engagement broke the waters at the beginning of '03.

It wasn't shocking to Shane when Steph called to tell him and his wife about it, but only because Paul had asked Vince for her hand first.

"Because he knows how these sorts of things work," Vince had complimented Paul when speaking to his son about it.

Shane only rolled his eyes though, finding rather odd that marriage, he asked permission, but everything else…

Not that he could be too upset, during his sister's short engagement period, as he and his wife were blessed with their own news. He would be having a child. Which thrilled Stephanie to no end and got her dreaming of her own child, someday.

Which, again, gross.

He questioned his sister, once, if she should reproduce with someone who had gigantic nose as a gene set.

Steph didn't find that joke funny.

Shane wasn't joking.

And damn, Shane had to hand over that round to Paul, honestly, as he put up with soon-to-be-bride mood from Steph quite well. The woman was always stressed to begin with, just from her work up at WWE, but compiled with planning a wedding, well, she was a damn nightmare.

If ever he'd cut Paul some slack for running to the hills (not cheating though because, in case it needed restating, that would forever and always be wrong, no exceptions), as Steph was no easy feat to handle.

When their wedding day did finally roll around though, it was gouty, in only a McMahon affair could be, but…

Stephanie was happy. Very happy. Truly happy. For all he hated to say it, Paul seemed pretty content too.

Which, of course, Shane was sure many (him) thought, could have been because his master plan was finally unfolding and Paul was getting access to the entire empire that he'd wanted to control for years, and yet…

Sigh.

Maybe Paul really...did...love his sister.

Maybe.

It didn't mean he wasn't still a cheat and a snake and a liar and a douche and an ass. Because he was. Still all of that.

But he wasn't a cheater, liar, douche, ass to Steph. Not anymore. Not for a long time.

And what more could you ask for?

A lot, probably, but Paul had been right; being with Steph was a job in and of itself. Not many lining up for that duty that wouldn't, too, just see the dollar signs in it.

Stephanie never really bothered them, with whatever problems she and Paul might have run into, early on in their marriage. Or ever, really. The only things Shane ever heard about it were the glowing statements that Stephanie would share and the times that he'd see the two together.

Honestly, they seemed to be doing pretty well. Shane, who had been married for years, knew that those first few months could be heaven or hell, but Steph and Paul seemed not really to have changed at all. She wasn't on television on any longer, rather taking care of things behind the scenes, but she still traveled with the shows and he was, obviously, still a major player in them, so their lives kind of just fell back into that comfortable place they'd been in for awhile. They traveled together, saw one another when they could, and talked constantly over the phone when she had to stick around back in Connecticut while he was gone.

Honestly, nothing at all had changed, other than Steph was happier, Paul could just tell.

When Shane's first son was born, Declan, in early '04, he had something knew to add to his already busy schedule. And though he saw Steph and Paul at times (hell, Steph was always trying to get her hands on those prime aunt moments when she had the time, taking her new husband along for the ride), he mostly stopped paying attention to their relationship completely.

Paul had been an uncle before, as he had a sister who had kids, but it was Steph's first time, obviously, at being an aunt and she was trying her hardest to be the best one. She spent much time with Declan (or at least a lot of time in the odd world where they lived, in which there were no off days or off time and you mostly just worked yourself to death because you loved the business) and it only furthered her talk of her and Paul having their own child.

And soon.

She herself had a lot on her plate though. Steph had become part of the creative team for WWE following her departure from the on-screen element, eating into many hours that she previously might have had to herself. Shane could go days without seeing his sister, even though they were both on behind the scenes duty, as they were verging out in different directions in the company. He saw more of Paul, even, at times, as the man was always hanging around Vince, forcing Shane to finally get over whatever few hostilities remained.

They weren't brothers, by any stretch of the imagination, but they were _brothers-in-laws_ and that meant something. Something more than him just being the boyfriend of Steph. Because it was becoming increasingly clear that Paul wasn't going anywhere and, at the very least, he had to have some amount of love for Stephanie (a lot, actually, but Shane didn't like to admit that). Shane loved her too, of course, and for the betterment of her, it was just for the best if they moved away from cordial and became friendly.

At least a little bit.

The two never hung out or anything of the sort (even if they did get along better, they had very little in common outside of WWE), but were able to hold less tense conversation at family events or when Shane went to pick Declan up from his aunt and uncle's house after they babysat. This pleased Stephanie, of course, as well as Linda and Marissa, which made it worth it. Paul and Shane loved their women a lot and, if it would be better for them if they became (kinda sorta but not really) friends, then that was what needed to be done.

Stephanie eventually got her wish, over a year later, when she did find herself pregnant. Paul had just returned to the screen after taking five months off for some neck issues (although, she actually didn't get pregnant until _after_ his return and those were just implications that Shane wasn't sure what meant, but sure as hell didn't want to think about), so the timing wasn't great, but ultimately didn't matter as Steph wasn't going anywhere.

At all. At any point.

She was one of the very few women who could afford to not only take time off for her pregnancy, at any time, but step right back into her role in the company upon her return, literally at any time, but refused to do so.

Steph worked through her whole pregnancy. The entire thing. Up until early July (she would give birth on the 24th), Steph was traveling with the shows and held up her end of things quite well.

Not to say she wasn't a major bitch. Because, as her brother, Shane could admit, she definitely was. In her defense, however, that first pregnancy, Steph just wasn't...feeling well.

It had excited her, perhaps, when she first found out that she was pregnant, that she then had an excuse to break her typical (loose) diet and just eat whatever she wanted. She'd always had a problem with her weight and pregnancy just didn't sit well on her, that first time around.

She was miserable, Shane knew, towards the end, annoyed with how much weight she'd gained and all the work that (she forced upon herself) to do for the company, and it was just…

Slightly irking, actually, to her brother, the way that Paul handled it. If he didn't know the man so well (and damn, he knew him; he wish he didn't, but he slowly had begun to), it would almost all seem fake. Paul was all smiles, about everything, all of Steph's (as the wrestler called it) shit, and during a time where a lot of guys could have found it very easy on their conscious to find...other sources of entertainment, outside of their wives, the man seem most pleased just being around his.

He was a fitness nut, Paul was, a body builder, and would never eat half the things that Steph put into her body, but he was a good sport about her doing so. He would buy her whatever she asked for, listen to her never-ending emotions on just how much weight she was putting on, and seemed to truly find pleasure in just being around her.

Because, for as charismatic as he was, out there in the ring, Paul was actually rather reserved. And when he wasn't at the gym or at an arena, he kind of just liked to sit around at home or in he and Steph's tour bus, with her head resting in his lap or up against his side, listening to her grumble on about how her day was while he watched TV or just rested.

Rest. He needed a lot of that, after all the things his body went through on a weekly basis, and he found no better amount of it than with Stephanie. He didn't have a lot of friends, really, and outside of the very few he enjoyed being around, Steph was certainly his best one.

Even with her bitchiness and the shit she was constantly tossing his way, Paul loved her and loved being around her and it was just so great, to him, knowing that his baby was growing inside of her.

Shane knew what he was feeling. Perhaps not the exact thing, but certainly the basics of it.

And even though he thought she was foolish, at times, working so much, Shane had to hand it to Stephanie too. She was committed to the company, completely and utterly, just like Vince had been, back when he was willing to go bankrupt, just to prove himself as a promoter, to prove that WWF could and would be the best out there.

They were a lot alike, honestly, Vince and Stephanie. Perhaps, Shane could admit, even more than he and his father were. They were both insane, at the very least, and that was certainly something Shane didn't see in himself.

For as much animosity as he could build for the man at times, Shane would admit, Paul was downright pumped that day, nearly on his birthday (but not actually, which is what Steph had been hoping for because she was such a girl and silly and thought that was romantic or something), when his daughter was born.

"At least," Shane mumbled to Steph that first time he came over to visit and hold his niece, "she doesn't seem to have gotten his nose."

That time, for some reason (and perhaps purely due to sleep preservation), Stephanie giggled at the joke.

Once more though, Shane wasn't joking.

She was all Paul talked about, Aurora was. For months. Shane hoped that he hadn't been that way, after Declan was born, but he had a sinking feeling he had been. The first thing Paul would want to do when he saw someone was tell them about whatever 'great' thing that Aurora had done the day before. She was his central interest and what he wanted to spend all his free time with.

Which worked well when, five months after her birth, Shane's brother-in-law was sidelined by yet another quad tear.

Once more, Steph and Paul were at a crossroads that could either bring them closer or push them apart.

For once, Shane was kind of glad that it was the former. He'd...softened towards the man, maybe, but mostly it was just easier that way. Life was better that way. Steph was happy, their baby was happy, and, fine, he'd admit it, Shane was happy for them. All three of them.

Of course though, just as he was finally, after six years, falling into true acceptance of Paul as his brother-in-law, the man had to cross the line in another way.

"I'm sure it's not a slight towards you," Marissa would tell him frequently when Shane griped, only to her, about his father's clear favoritism of Paul. "He's always helped Vince out up at work."

And he had. Since the 90s. Before Steph even. Paul had always been interested in the business and Vince recognized that immediately. They were buddies. They always had been.

Why that began to rub Shane the wrong way, he wasn't sure, but it did.

Stephanie was all for it though, even pushed Paul towards it, as time went on. He was only getting older, her husband was, and wrestling full time would, eventually, not be an option anymore. The man had come back from two torn quads, a ruptured trachea, and a plethora of other ailments through the years.

At some point, enough would be enough.

Paul kind of liked it too, when he wasn't in the ring constantly and got a chance to stay back in Connecticut at times or even just backstage, dealing with those sorts of things, rather than having to worry about lines or the audience or where to stand or even what sort of moves to preform.

He had a mind for wrestling, but sometimes, it was best to let it rest a bit.

Plus, he and Steph kept having more kids. Which mixed well for Shane, at least in that aspect, as he had two more of his own as well. Steph's two daughters' births followed Shane's two sons in almost an eerie. Still, it added up well, as far as family things went. All the children were so close in age that they got along pretty well (until, like children, they didn't, but that was rather rare and typically a sign that they'd spent too much time together recently).

Even though he didn't like the idea of Paul and his sister, he had to hand it to him, when he knocked her up, the time frame was pretty convenient. Two of his daughters birthdays were so close that Shane really only had to remember one. And the other not soon after that.

Didn't absolve Paul of screwing everything up for Shane at the company though. Which wasn't wholly his fault, he knew, as Vince was to blame for his own dirt, but at the same time…

It just got to be too much. Being in the company. Working under his father, always under his father, with little to no progression.

He was just done with it. He was done with waiting around. He was done with the strain it was putting on his relationship with his father. And he was definitely done with it all, before it put any distance between him and his sister.

He could make his own way, separate of WWF.

Which left a clear path for Paul. Whether he truly married Stephanie because he loved her or because he wanted the business, man would have been a fool not to step into the role when it was offered to him.

COO.

Heh.

Shane bit his tongue a lot. He had since the beginning, but found himself doing it even more forcefully in those days. It was becoming increasingly clear to him that Vince wasn't going to be begging him back and he should just go ahead and prepare for the day that it was an outsider, running the company, rather than him.

Or, maybe, he should take Paul to the side and explain that Vince was never going to die anyways, so he might as well not waste his time, waiting around for it to happen.

And he certainly wasn't passing on the company during his lifetime.

No way.

Maybe they'd just wait until he went senile (or more so, perhaps, was a better way of putting it) and Shane and Steph could get power of attorney and figure out what to do with Vince's portion of things then.

Maybe.

Or Vince would just outlive them all and they'd be stuck under his thumb for the rest of their lives.

Maybe Declan and Aurora could overthrow him one day. He seemed to like them more than he did his own children for the most part.

It was actually at one of those family events, that day, that Shane found himself considering all of this. He was seated out on the patio of his father's mansion, watching over the pool where the older kids were swimming. Linda was sitting at the edge of the pool, just her feet in the water, as she had a closer watch on them. Aurora and Declan could swim, but Murphy and Kenny had floaties and were more or less just floating around

Randomly, Shane would stop spacing out and catch bits of the conversation that was going on next to him, between his wife and sister. They both had the youngest of the McMahon grandchildren in their laps. Vaughn, Steph's daughter, wasn't in such a great mood that day (nearing two, she typically was either having the best day of her life or the worst one) while Rogan, Shane's youngest, was two and very much so having a great day. He was getting to be outside and around everyone and he could hear the other kids giggling and playing.

What was there to be upset about?

A lot, apparently, as Vaughn whined frequently while Steph fretted over her. Her cries would always draw the eyes of Paul, who was over at the grill with Vince, talking about something or other, which would always suck because it was almost always at the same moment that Shane's eyes had drifted over there and…

Sigh.

"Oh," Steph groaned, getting Shane's attention as her phone, which was setting on the table they were seated around, buzzed. "Ugh, I have to take this. I've been working on something and- Uncle Shane, can you watch the baby?"

He gave his sister a forced smile as Vaughn was shifted to his lap. "But of course."

And Steph scampered off, to the house, phone in hand, while Marissa only giggled over at her husband, Rogan reaching from her arms out for his father, a little peeved that his cousin was given the honor of being in the man's arms.

Not that Vaughn wanted the honor. She was pretty content with her mother and was upset then, knowing she was gone, which left her with only one option.

Paul groaned too, as she began calling very loudly out for him, but it made Vince laugh and say something about how, clearly, his daughter was in dire needs over there.

The utmost dire. What did they expect her to do? Just be content with the uncle that she'd known since birth holding her? Is that it?

Well too bad.

"It's alright, Vaughn." Paul was at Shane's side rather quickly, the men quickly shifting her to his arms. "Surely your uncle ain't that bad, huh?"

"He's the worst," Marissa told Paul with a grin as Rogan settled down a bit, seeing that his cousin was vacating his papa's arms. "Aren't you, Shane?"

"I'm somethin'," he muttered as Paul only let Vaughn snuggle up to his bare chest, as he was only in swim trunks, taking her with him right back over to Vince. "I guess."

Steph came back eventually, and only sunk right back into the spot next to her brother with a slight groan.

"You have no idea," she griped to him slightly, as Marissa had taken Rogan inside, as he claimed he needed to go potty, "what we're dealing with right now up a the company."

"Nope," Shane agreed, sparing her a smile as he reached for his beer as it sat there, on the table in front of them. "I don't."

Frowning at his tone, Stephanie glanced at her brother with a slight smile. "You okay?"

"Just drank too much, I think."

"Awe. You're such a lightweight, Shane."

He shook his head a bit, at his sister's teasing, before saying, "Me? You drank, like, half a beer and are already stumbling all over the place."

"Am not." She sat up taller, trying to seem serious though her goofy grin gave her away. "I'm so sober I could drive home right now, if I needed to."

"Steph, you like live a straight shot down the road. On the same street." Shane rolled his eyes. "If you couldn't even do that, then you'd be mighty more than just drunk."

"Yeah, well, that's what I have my straightedge husband for." She reached for her own can then, that sat next to his. "He can always drive me home."

"I think your precious husband-"

"Isn't he though?"

"-would kill you if he ever heard you call him that. Straightedge."

Stephanie shrugged. "Maybe if someone else called him that, but me? I could probably get him to say it about himself, if I told him too."

And wasn't that just the crux of it all, Shane decided, as he gave her a reluctant nod.

Paul would do anything for his sister. Anything. He'd more than proven that in the past. Even as he was standing over at the grill with Vince, watching the older man flip steaks (for himself) and burgers (for himself and everyone else) as well as hotdogs (again, mostly himself, but the kids could probably snag a few), the wrestler's eyes frequently found their way over to Stephanie's, across the patio. They kept making those weird faces at one another that Shane was sure Steph thought he didn't notice, but he certainly did.

They were so...weird. That was what bothered him in those days. Because yes, Shane loved Marissa dearly still. But they didn't...do that. On a regular basis. For two people that worked together, Steph and Paul seemed to not like any time spent apart. At all.

Steph and Paul were more than just into one another. They needed one another. In a disgusting way, where they reaffirmed constantly the others disillusions. Steph plied Paul full of complements and still looked at the man as if he weren't in his forties and aging rather quickly while he, in return, did much the same. Paul loved tossing an arm around Steph when they were around others, had no problems with her hanging off him at all times, and would only grin when she told him in front of others just how much she loved him.

Shane couldn't even hate it anymore. Not really. He could get annoyed, at times, with Paul, over the company or the way the man did _every damn thing Steph told him to_ , and he certainly could get peeved at his sister over how she still would tell Marissa all sorts of mushy stupid romantic crap about Paul that, honestly, they were too old to still get a kick out of anyways, but…

Not everything that starts off horrible finishes the same way. You can only get to the light, after all, by crawling through the darkness.

"Yeah, well," Shane was saying to his sister eventually, though she was busy drinking from her can and staring over at Paul who was actually busy watching the very insistent kids as they did cannon balls into the pool, "I guess that's the benefit, huh? Of marrying a lapdog?"

"He's not a lapdog." But Steph giggled. "He's just a very well trained attack dog."

"Guard dog, maybe, now," was her brother's reply as Paul turned away from the pool, so that the water didn't splash the then whining Vaughn as Declan, once more, bombed into the pool. "More than anything."

"Mmmmm." Stephanie giggled because, yeah, Shane was right, she probably was a bit buzzed. "He can be both."

More to just end it then, Shane nodded though he spoke truthfully as he said, "Yeah. If anyone could be, I guess it's him."

* * *

 **Randxgirl requested this one too which probably didn't turn out the way she wanted it, but here we are.**


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